


College Visit

by derryderrydown



Category: DCU - Comicverse, Teen Titans
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-14
Updated: 2009-11-14
Packaged: 2017-10-02 17:57:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/derryderrydown/pseuds/derryderrydown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Holly Granger decides that it's part of her heritage as Hawk to hang out with the Teen Titans. The Teen Titans aren't so sure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	College Visit

"Holly," Dawn complained, trailing after her younger sister. "You told Dad you wanted to look at colleges." She pointed at the imposing shape of Titans Tower. "_That_ is not a college."

"They train superheroes," Holly said absently, concentrating on getting through the hordes of tourists taking photos of themselves, sunburned and beaming, with the Tower in the background. "That makes it an educational establishment. Think of it as an NVQ."

"A what?"

Holly ignored her. "Come on, we can change down this alley."

Dawn paused in the mouth of the alley. "Why do we need to get changed?" she called.

"Hawk!" The rush of power and energy wasn't familiar enough to be anything but mindblowing and Holly flexed her claws. This superhero gig wasn't bad, even if it did mean hanging out with Dawn. Oh, yeah, Dawn. "We need to get changed because I'm checking out the educational establishment to see if I want to enrol for next semester. And I can't do it in civvies."

"_Holly!_" Dawn finally entered the alley, looking scandalised. "You don't just _join_ the Titans!"

"You mightn't. I do. Now hurry up and do your mojo."

Dawn folded her arms. "Why do _I_ need to be involved?"

"Because I need a lift, of course. Also - don't you want to keep an eye on me?" Holly beamed.

"It was so much easier with Hank," Dawn muttered. "Dove!"

* * *

Dawn had ignored the tourists but Holly waved until Dawn took her too high to be easily visible.

"Spoilsport," Holly said.

"Secret identity, remember?"

Holly wasn't paying attention. "We've got company. Look." She pointed to the black and blue blur shooting up from the Tower.

"Superboy." Dawn sounded pleased. "If he tells us to back off and go home, will you listen?"

"Not a chance." Holly waved. "Hey, S-boy!"

Superboy matched pace with Dawn. "Vic wants to know if there's trouble."

"Only Holly," Dawn said.

"Ha bloody ha. Tell him there's no trouble. We're just paying a visit."

Superboy didn't look convinced but he shrugged. "Okay. I'll let him know." And he shot ahead.

"Can't you keep up?" Holly asked.

"Probably. But it wouldn't be polite to arrive before they've had a chance to prepare a little."

"But that's what I want to _see_. I want to see what it's like around the Tower without them being on their best behaviour for visitors."

"Tough."

Holly sighed and managed to keep her mouth shut until they touched down by the Tower's entrance.

Vic was waiting, with a green python curled round his shoulders. He looked concerned. "You told Superboy you were just visiting?"

"Holly wan-" Dawn started but Holly wasn't going to let her ruin things.

"Just here to pick up some training tips." She stomped on Dawn's foot to keep her quiet. "I mean, I'm pretty new to this heroing thing and you guys are meant to be a good place to learn."

Vic smiled. "Sure. We're running an exercise this afternoon if you want to join in."

"The teams'll be uneven," the python said and turned into a monkey.

Vic reached up and pulled the monkey off his head. "Then you can get off your green butt and join in."

Still hanging from Vic's hand, the monkey turned into Gar and landed on the ground with a thud. "As long as I get to be on Hawk's team," he said with a lascivous grin and morphed into a bee in time to avoid Vic's swat.

Okay. Gar was just going to have to be swatted at some point in the future.

"The only thing," Vic said, "is that this is Speedy's first big exercise. I'm not entirely happy about throwing another new person into the mix."

"I'm not completely new," Holly said. "I was in on the Doctor Light thing."

"We can put one newbie on each team," the bee - no, a goat now - said. "That'll make it fair."

"Please?" Holly said, with her best attempt at a winning smile.

"Sure," Vic said.

"Oh dear," Dawn said softly.

* * *

Holly looked around the team she'd been assigned to by Vic. Robin was useful for smarts, even if he wasn't much in the way of heavy hitting. For that, they had Superboy. And, really, you couldn't _get_ a heavier hitter than Superman's clone. And then there was Gar, who'd been doing this practically since he was in nappies. Experience was good, even if he was an irritating git at times.

Of course, the other team had Raven, which gave them all those spooky, mystical powers. And if you _could_ get a heavier hitter than Superman's clone, it'd be the girl given powers by a Greek god. And then there was the Red Arrow chick, who'd had enough guts to go up against Doctor Light one-on-one. And Kid Flash.

"You're about the same speed as him, aren't you?" Holly said to Superboy, nodding to where Bart was running laps round Speedy.

Superboy laughed. "Not a chance. He can overtake me running _backwards_."

"Damn."

"How about you?" Robin asked. "It's going to make it difficult to plan if I don't know what your powers are."

Holly shrugged. "You'd be better off asking the Lords of Chaos - they left me to figure it out on my own. No flight but I seem to get more in the way of strength, agility and endurance." It didn't seem worth mentioning the brains side of it to Robin. "Oh, and these." She extended her claws. "Fun, aren't they?"

Next to her, Gar morphed into a lion and extended his own claws. "Sure are."

Holly ruffled his mane and Gar flopped on to his side, chest lifting with a massive, rusty purr. "So what do we do now?" she asked.

Superboy and Gar both looked towards Robin, who folded his arms under his cloak. "We wait for Vic to brief us. Do you have any insights, Gar?"

Gar was human now, sitting on the floor, and Holly yanked her hand back from stroking his neck. He grinned up at her. "I'm just as cute like this."

"I prefer you furry."

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Gar," Robin interrupted.

"He's going to give us come clues about a crime that's going to be committed. We have to stop it. I don't know any more than that."

"We've got Robin," Superboy said. "We're totally going to walk this."

"Don't under-estimate Cassie," Robin said. "And Bart's learning to apply his knowledge."

"Yeah, but none of them think as sneaky as you."

"Trouble is," Gar said, "_Vic_ doesn't think as sneaky as Robin." Superboy and Gar stared at Robin, who seemed to disappear into his cloak.

Holly tapped her fingers on her thigh. "So this is going to be a brain thing? Not an arse-kicking thing?" Crap, what a waste of time.

"Thinking's an important part of the job," Superboy said, then cleared his throat. "Or so I'm told."

Holly waved the words away. "That's what Dawn says. So far, I've just had to kick arse."

"You haven't been doing it for long," Robin pointed out.

Anything else he was going to say was interrupted by Vic's amplified voice. "Briefing now."

* * *

Half an hour later, Holly was left scratching her head. "So, let me get this straight. There's a gang going to attack a bank. We don't know who the gang are but we know it's the First National Bank in six hours. What's the problem? We go to the bank, wait for them and kick the crap out of them."

"I'm with Hawk," Superboy said.

Holly grinned at him. "Good choice, S-boy." The boy had a good attitude to kicking arse.

"Call me Kon."

And, yeah, _hot_ body. "Holly."

Robin cleared his throat. "If we wait until they're in the bank, there's more chance of a bystander getting hurt. It's better to take them down before then."

"But we don't know who they are," Holly pointed out.

"What he means," Kon said, "is that we spend the next hour being detectives."

"How about _he_ spends the next hour being a detective and _we_ spend the next hour sparring?"

"Sounds good," Kon said.

"Give us a call when you want us to hit something," Holly said.

* * *

Holly ducked Kon's punch, sprang upwards, turned a somersault over his head and landed facing him. "So," she said, "how long have you been doing this?" And then she tumbled out of the way because Kon was flying towards her.

"All my life. You?" He flipped round and used the wall of the gym for an added boost.

"About a month." She managed to get her claws out in time to rake him as he passed but it was like trying to cut rock. "So you got the invulnerable thing, then?"

"Not quite." He touched the mat under her feet and it writhed, sending her flying. "Tactile telekinesis. Has a lot of uses."

She was up on her feet. "I'm guessing you don't often fight people who out-power you?" Another somersault but this time landing on his back and she had her arm round his throat.

"Not often."

It wasn't doing a thing. The boy was _strong_. "What'll you do if you come up against one?"

"Think around it," and now she was pressed between the ceiling and Kon. And not that being pressed against Kon was _unpleasant_ but it wasn't - quite - what she was here for.

Think around it, indeed. So she pulled one arm free, reached down and grabbed Kon's crotch.

He uttered a high-pitched squeak and shot away, leaving her to roll off his back and land perfectly on the mats, while Kon hovered at the far end of the gym. "Er. You do know I've got a girlfriend?"

"You do?" Didn't all the good ones? "Is she up to the _lifestyle_ though, Superboy?"

"I can hold my own, thanks." Wonder Girl. Oh, of _course_ it was Wonder fucking Girl. "Vic's got some more clues to give us, if you two are quite finished?"

"We can finish up later. Right, Kon?"

Wonder Girl touched her lasso and the thing lit up like a 250 watt bulb. "Want some more company for it?"

"I wouldn't want to take you away from your team," Holly said, with a smile as false as she could make it. "I'm sure they need you."

"And I'm sure _your_ team isn't missing you in the slightest."

"We've got Robin," Holly said. "I give it another ten minutes before he knows who we've got to beat up."

"So you just do as you're told? I suppose Dove is the leader."

Holly narrowed her eyes. "I tell you what. When this exercise is over, how about we have a little exercise together?"

Wonder Girl smiled. "Sounds fun."

"Uh, Cassie," Kon said. "You said Vic needed us."

"Sure. See you later, Hawk."

"Wow," Holly said, watching her go. "Is she always that PMS-y?"

Kon smiled weakly.

* * *

Holly watched Kid Flash while Vic talked. She couldn't be quite sure but he didn't seem to be in his seat all the time. There'd be brief flickers and then he'd be sitting there as though he'd never moved. But he'd be chewing.

She leaned over. "Next time you go on a food run, bring me a packet of crisps."

He blinked and assumed a bad expression of innocence. "Food run? Me? I've been sitting here. Watching Vic. Paying attention."

"You've got crumbs round your mouth."

He brushed at them and the innocence collapsed. "Don't tell? It's just that Vic talks really slow and I get hungry quickly. But if they know, they'll be all, 'Oh, typical Bart, can't stay still for five minutes,' and, well, it's true but it's not. You know?"

Holly sorted out the words. "Not my problem. Just get me a packet of crisps. I've been beating up Kon and I'm peckish."

Bart flickered and when he was back, he was holding a nutrition bar and a bottle of water. "If you've been exercising, you need to rehydrate and you need to eat properly and this has all the vitamins and minerals and stuff that you need. You beat Kon up?"

"Well." Holly took a bite of the nutrition bar. It didn't actually taste too bad. "I would have done but Wonder Girl interrupted." The water was an improvement on London tapwater. Then again, most things were an improvement on London tapwater.

"Wow." Bart looked at her with respect. "Kon's, like, _Superman_. You must be way tougher than you look. Which, okay, Cassie doesn't look as tough as she is but she's all gods-gifted and has the lasso and stuff. You've just got claws." He blinked. "But claws are totally cool. I'd like claws."

Holly tried to work out if she'd been complimented or insulted.

"Oh, but Vic's done so we'd better get back to our teams. The new clues alter everything. Good job we didn't just charge in!"

"You were listening?" How had he been listening when he was talking so much?

"Course I was listening! If Vic's briefing us it's important." He frowned, looking concerned. "I mean, you were listening, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Holly said. "Didn't miss a word."

Crap.

* * *

"The way things stand," said Robin, "we need to hit the sewers."

The sewers. What the _hell_ had Vic told them all?

"Hawk, can you go point?"

Oh, _crap_. "Yeah, sure." What could she find down there, other than giant mutant crocodiles?

"Kon, you take up the rear. Gar, can you scout on ahead?"

There was a green rat sitting where Gar had been. "No problem," it said and twitched its nose.

"We might as well hit the system under the Tower," Robin said.

Great. Even more time in the shit of San Francisco.

* * *

Holly could occasionally make out Gar's eyes gleaming in the light of her torch but mostly, it felt as though she was alone. Robin didn't make a noise - and she didn't have a clue how he managed it, because _she_ was splashing like a three-year-old in a puddle - and Kon was, of course, flying. Bastard. Why couldn't the Lords of Chaos have given _her_ flight instead of Dawn?

There was a squeak from up ahead and, moments later, Gar was in front of her. "We're coming up to a T-junction. I can smell fish up to the left."

"Great," Robin said. "Left it is, then."

Fish. Were they up against the Penguin?

Only, evidently not, because when Robin stopped and gestured for them to climb out, they were in a zoo. Holly shook out her legs. "These boots are _ruined_. I hope I get a new pair next time I do my mojo."

Robin didn't quite frown at her. "I need you to watch the entrance to the tiger enclosure."

"Sure. What am I watching for?"

Robin's frown got a little more obvious. "Were you listening to Cyborg?"

"Not really, no." Holly grinned. "I'm more a 'tell me who to hit' person."

Behind Robin, Kon winced.

"Fine." Robin seemed to disappear into his cloak. "You're looking for two women, early thirties. One with glasses and short blonde hair. The other's got shoulder-length black hair, probably worn loose."

"Do I hit them?"

Robin sighed. "If necessary, yes. Just stop them letting the tigers out."

Holly blinked. "And this'll stop people robbing the bank?"

"Yes," Robin said. "Yes, it will."

"Okay. See you later."

* * *

It felt like three years had passed but she could just see a tower with a clock and that insisted it had only been twenty minutes. If the others were getting in some interesting fight without her, she'd be seriously pissed off.

"Hey," Bart said and appeared next to her. "Are you staking out the tigers too? I think Vic came up with a pretty clever plan. It took Cassie ages to work out what was going on. Well, not really ages but it felt like it. Have you been waiting long?"

"Yeah," Holly said. "About an hour."

"Wow! Robin really _is_ smart, because we had to track them through the sewers but he must have just brought you straight here. Did you get a lift with Kon or Gar? Kon normally carries Tim, so it was probably Gar, right?"

"Yeah." She cleared her throat. "So, do you know what you're looking for?"

"Carrie Summers and Jolene Caffrey, of Release."

"I meant, do you have a physical description?"

"Oh, sure. Speedy pulled photos off the internet. You have photos too, yeah?"

"Er?" Holly considered it. "No. Robin didn't think they were necessary."

"Really?" Bart tilted his head. "That's weird bec- oh! Here they are, look!"

The two women matched Robin's description perfectly and Holly grinned. Finally! A straightforward chance to beat somebody up!

Okay, it wasn't _much_ of a fight, because the blonde crumpled at the first blow and the brunette only managed one pretty pathetic punch before she was on the floor.

"Um, Hawk," Bart said. "I don't think you were supposed to do that."

"Robin said I could hit them," Holly said with a shrug.

"I _said_ you were to stop them releasing the tigers," Robin said as he appeared from some shadows.

"I stopped them. What's the big deal?"

Robin sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "They aren't villains, Hawk. We just needed to get some information out of them."

Bart zipped over and shook the blonde. "I don't think we'll be getting any information for a while. They're unconscious."

Robin pulled a communicator out of his belt. "Cyborg, this is Robin. We have to cancel the exercise." A pause while the communicator squawked back. "Hawk got a little over-enthusiastic." Another pause. "No, none of us are hurt. But Summers and Caffrey are both unconscious." Some indignant sounding squawking. "There's an ambulance on its way." Then he flipped the communicator shut. "Let's get back to the Tower. Bart, can you take Hawk?"

Holly just heard Bart saying, "Sure," and then she was at the Tower and Dawn and Vic were waiting for her.

"Holly," Dawn said. "What the _hell_ do you think you were doing?"

"It's not my fault! Robin said I was to stop them releasing the tigers - he didn't say a _thing_ about leaving them conscious."

"Hawk?" Bart said. "That was in Vic's briefing."

"Oh." Fuck. "Er. Sorry?"

Vic sighed heavily. "Look, Hawk. I just don't think you're ready for the Titans at the moment. I mean, nothing against you, but you don't fit the way we work."

"No, _you_ don't fit the way _I_ work," Holly said indignantly. "C'mon, all this hanging around and _detecting_ things? I didn't get given superpowers so I could _think_. There's nothing you can't work out with a good kicking."

"Holly," Dawn said, "I think we should leave now."

"Fine by me!"

"I'm sorry, Vic," Dawn said. "Hopefully, next time we see you, things'll be smoother."

"Stop _apologising_, Dawn, and get in the air."

"Bye, Vic."

Dawn was rougher than usual as she picked Holly up. Halfway across the Bay, she said, "Do you have any idea how tempted I am to just _drop_ you right now?"

"Why?"

Dawn made a strangled noise and accelerated.

Maybe, Holly thought, they'd have a chance to check out SFSU before they had to head home. Although she didn't think she wanted to live that close to a bunch as boring as the Titans.


End file.
